Chidi Ogali is a third-year doctoral student in the College of Pharmacy who has a passion for music. When he is not in school or studying, he is producing songs at his house, performing at open mics or playing drums at his dad’s church. He hopes his story will inspire readers.
I’m a huge fan of the creative arts. I am a songwriter, rapper, musician and producer. I currently just finished producing my first music project, called “College of Art$ and $cience.”
This project is a collection of songs that I wrote and produced about my experiences as a young man living in two worlds: music and pharmacy. The songs range from hip-hop to R&B and acoustic.
The creative world is a new world for me; I have been a musician for most of my life, playing drums at my dad’s church and at other church gigs, but I never really created or wrote music until 2010. Over the last three years, I have come up with enough songs that I am proud enough of to showcase to the world. I am currently performing at different venues all around South Florida and I must say it has really been fun.
The second part of my life is the science part. My pharmacy school journey started in 2006, when I got a job in a local pharmacy. I liked the experience and decided I wanted to embark on that journey and pursue a career in pharmacy. The health industry is especially important to me because I have a medical condition called sickle cell anemia. It’s a genetic blood disorder in which blood cells take on sickled shape and, therefore, do not live as long as regular blood cells. People who have sickle cell are anemic, have pain and experience other health complications. As someone with sickle cell, I’ve had to deal with its complications my whole life, as I have find ways to be healthy.
All my life, I have been looked for health remedies to improve my condition. I have dieted, exercised and gone through drug therapy, with both synthetic drugs and homeopathic remedies. I hope one day to own my own health store and be involved in health research that will help improve my life and the lives of others with sickle-cell anemia.
Living in these two worlds sometimes feels crazy. I often feel as if I am way in over my head and I am overextended, but I always figure that if I have made it this far, then I can definitely take it to the top. In 10 years, I hope to be rocking out arenas, performing my music as well as owning a couple health stores and being involved in some kind of research that will help me and other people with sickle-cell live better, healthier lives.
